Here, [[Randall]] is referring to a dispute on the Wikipedia article about ''{{w|Star Trek Into Darkness}}'' (an upcoming Star Trek film) about whether to capitalize the word "into." On the day before the comic was published the article was titled with a lowercase "into", the talk page looked [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Star_Trek_Into_Darkness&oldid=535271069 like this], (rounded off in a friendly way, with the posting of {{w|User:Frungi/Star_Trek_Into_Darkness_capitalization|a summary of the arguments}}, and an exchange of virtual hugs).

Here, [[Randall]] is referring to a dispute on the Wikipedia article about ''{{w|Star Trek Into Darkness}}'' (an upcoming Star Trek film) about whether to capitalize the word "into." On the day before the comic was published the article was titled with a lowercase "into", the talk page looked [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Star_Trek_Into_Darkness&oldid=535271069 like this], (rounded off in a friendly way, with the posting of {{w|User:Frungi/Star_Trek_Into_Darkness_capitalization|a summary of the arguments}}, and an exchange of virtual hugs).

−

[[Cueball]] changes the title so that every other letter is capitalized, and adds framing tildes and asterisks. This will probably not go over well.

+

[[Cueball]] changes the title so that every other letter is capitalized, and adds framing tildes and asterisks (a common (childish) way of emphasising titles online). This will probably not go over well.

−

Megan's line of "They should have sent a poet." is a quote from the film ''{{w|Contact (film)|Contact}}''; the quote appears in other xkcd comics, such as [[482: Height]].

+

Megan's line of "They should have sent a poet." is a quote from the film ''{{w|Contact (film)|Contact}}''. The quote is also featured in [[482: Height]].

−

The title text indicates Randall's belief that such arguments are perpetual and will always arise; he suggests that the edit in the comic will result in a dispute over whether his new title should be framed by tildes and asterisks, or by Xs (two common ways of emphasising titles online which are generally considered to be childish). The third option is the proper title of the film with a lowercase "L" in place of the capital "I". Because these characters appear similar in many fonts, there is a potential argument that the character in the movie's title is a lowercase L, although the word "Lnto" would make no sense.

+

The title text indicates Randall's belief that such arguments are perpetual and will always arise. He suggests that the edit in the comic will result in a dispute over variants on Cueballs "compromise". Because the lowercase "L" and the capital "I" appear similar in many fonts, he also suggests the potential argument that the character in the movie's title is a lowercase "L" (although the word "Lnto" would make no sense).

After the publication the debate continued with full force, complete with [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Star_Trek_Into_Darkness&oldid=535664064#xkcd_Mention a section of xkcd-inspired suggestions]. The article itself was soon protected, so that only administrators could edit it. A day later the title was changed to a capital "Into" by the administrator {{w|User:Mackensen|Mackensen}}. (The debate continued on his talk page.)

After the publication the debate continued with full force, complete with [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Star_Trek_Into_Darkness&oldid=535664064#xkcd_Mention a section of xkcd-inspired suggestions]. The article itself was soon protected, so that only administrators could edit it. A day later the title was changed to a capital "Into" by the administrator {{w|User:Mackensen|Mackensen}}. (The debate continued on his talk page.)

Revision as of 17:41, 18 February 2013

Title text: Of course, factions immediately sprang up in favor of '~*~sTaR tReK iNtO dArKnEsS~*~', 'xX_StAr TrEk InTo DaRkNess_Xx', and 'Star Trek lnto Darkness' (that's a lowercase 'L').

Explanation

The talk page of a Wikipedia article is used to discuss changes to the article. An edit war is a dispute about a specific edit to an article, manifesting as a series of edits alternatingly making and reverting the change, and usually accompanied by a more-or-less heated debate on the talk page. Wikipedia is no stranger to lengthy battles over trivialities.

Here, Randall is referring to a dispute on the Wikipedia article about Star Trek Into Darkness (an upcoming Star Trek film) about whether to capitalize the word "into." On the day before the comic was published the article was titled with a lowercase "into", the talk page looked like this, (rounded off in a friendly way, with the posting of a summary of the arguments, and an exchange of virtual hugs).

Cueball changes the title so that every other letter is capitalized, and adds framing tildes and asterisks (a common (childish) way of emphasising titles online). This will probably not go over well.

Megan's line of "They should have sent a poet." is a quote from the film Contact. The quote is also featured in 482: Height.

The title text indicates Randall's belief that such arguments are perpetual and will always arise. He suggests that the edit in the comic will result in a dispute over variants on Cueballs "compromise". Because the lowercase "L" and the capital "I" appear similar in many fonts, he also suggests the potential argument that the character in the movie's title is a lowercase "L" (although the word "Lnto" would make no sense).

After the publication the debate continued with full force, complete with a section of xkcd-inspired suggestions. The article itself was soon protected, so that only administrators could edit it. A day later the title was changed to a capital "Into" by the administrator Mackensen. (The debate continued on his talk page.)

Transcript

[Cueball staring at computer screen.]

Cueball: Oh, wow. Look at Wikipedia's Talk page for Star Trek into Darkness. I have a new favorite edit war.

Megan (off-panel): Oh?

Cueball: Forty thousand words of debate over whether to capitalize "into" in the movie's title. Still no consensus.

Megan: That's magnificient.

Cueball: It's breathtaking.

Megan: They should have sent a poet.

Cueball: Well I'm making an executive decision. I hope both sides accept this as a fair compromise.

Discussion

There has been a considerable amount of debate as to whether the title of this movie should have a colon in it, which would have appeared as "Star Trek: Into Darkness." They eventually decided against the colon, and I wonder if this comic is poking fun at that debate.169.234.40.187 00:49, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

I suspect an allusion to movie title spellings that can be seen on moviez sites, torrent sites etc. -- 193.174.118.70 08:20, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

The Associated Press style manual says to capitalize all prepositions that are four letters or more in titles, e.g. Into, Through, etc. --Prooffreader (talk) 09:54, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

This could also have to do with WP's MOS of capitalizing "The first word in a compound preposition (e.g. "Time Out of Mind", "Get Off of My Cloud")".

However, you cannot simply change the title of a page on WP. This requires actually moving the whole page. 84.208.51.23 14:02, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

I think there is a capitalization error in the comic. The second to last 's' should be capitalized in order to match the rest of the pattern in "xX_StAr TrEk InTo DaRkNess_Xx". Unless the author is trying to subtly troll us into arguing about that capitalization... Sayno2quat (talk) 14:31, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

Non-sense, double consonants should never be capitalized! Unless of course you want to use them for structural purposes, like spacing or framing, obviously.--Pnariyoshi (talk) 15:05, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

I believe Cueball's comment, "I have a new favorite edit war," is refering to the title text in this comic http://xkcd.com/878 about the great debate of HO vs. H0. 206.39.12.245 15:23, 30 January 2013 (UTC)Pat

"Magnificient"?

The actual Talk Page of the Wikipedia article in question has an item about this comic. --Prooffreader (talk) 16:32, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

Oh sweet mother of god. Between that and the spam on this wiki, I think I'll take the spam. Davidy22[talk] 11:33, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

I spent a good portion of last night reading through Wikipedia's talk pages for that. Worth a good laugh. 76.122.5.96 16:56, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

Well it obviously should be capitalized. --Shine (talk) 17:43, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

I tried to make a point on wikipedia that Wikipedia itself went out of its way to create a "lowercase first letter" template so that iPod and things of that nature could be capitalized the way the producer styled it, but there's really nowhere to point it as all discussions have closed and been ground to a halt. TheHYPO (talk) 19:50, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

But is it really an edit war? Have they been moving the page bach and forth? --St.nerol (talk) 00:18, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

I still feel the most retarded of discussions on Wikipedia is for the Hentai article, where a disturbing majority demand pornography. --59.167.191.93 08:05, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

Just a minor matter of correctness... but shouldn't this page be entitled "1167: Star Trek Into Darkness", with a capital I, you know, since that's the way the movie studio is writing it, even though it doesn't follow MOS? I think someone needs to fix it RIGHT NOW! --boB

Hey boB, you should fix your username! :P I'm kidding. I think the wiki just follows what is on the xkcd website, which has the lower case "i".--Pnariyoshi (talk) 22:45, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

I wish the Super Bowl Halftime Show could be that talk page being presented in a dramatic on stage performance. wow. Do you think Ian McKellen is available?--Shine (talk) 19:29, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

It looks like it's been moved to the capital I. I'd say that it's definitely because xkcd mentioned it. 76.122.5.96

I wanna be the guy who has to watch the xkcd website for new Wikipedia-related comics and lock the related article as quickly as possible... Ilinamorato (talk) 15:44, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

Perhaps it is worth noting that the argument over whether to include a section about the debate and the following xkcd mention is now growing on the talk page and already has a couple thousand words of debate. 24.114.22.89 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

That reminds me of the time that I was reading my Encyclopedia Britannica and happened across the section on the Titmouse and it mentioned the debate the editors were having on whether to include a joke about Titmice and tits being cousins of sorts. Oh Wait.... --Shine (talk) 23:06, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

Maybe someone who has seen Contact wants to add some comment about the meaning of the quote or why it is relevant/funny? –St.nerol (talk) 18:45, 18 February 2013 (UTC)

Search

Navigation

Tools

It seems you are using noscript, which is stopping our project wonderful ads from working. Explain xkcd uses ads to pay for bandwidth, and we manually approve all our advertisers, and our ads are restricted to unobtrusive images and slow animated GIFs. If you found this site helpful, please consider whitelisting us.